The invention relates to trailers for the transport of live poultry hatchlings, for example chicken or turkey chicks. More particularly, the invention relates to a high capacity trailer for transporting live poultry hatchlings with a transverse flow of air therethrough that is similar at all positions along the length of the trailer.
In poultry husbandry, hatchlings are transported from hatcheries to barns where the hatchlings are raised to adulthood. The hatchlings are first placed in containers that are typically rectangular with a height approximately equal to the height of a hatchling and are sized to accommodate a plurality of hatchlings in each container. The containers are normally stacked on top of one another and are perforated on all four sides to allow the passage of air through the container. The containers are then loaded on to vehicles for transport.
Each vehicle has a cargo space that is ventilated in order to maintain controlled environmental conditions. The cargo space has a flow of air therethrough that includes a certain amount of fresh air and that may be conditioned to a desired temperature and/or humidity. The flow of air is directed through the hatchling containers to ensure that life-sustaining conditions are maintained therein.
In the past, the vehicles have primarily been trucks having an extended frame with a cargo body attached thereto. One such truck, designed and sold by the owners of the present invention, includes a central passage through the truck body that permits a flow of air along the length of the truck and side ducts along each side wall of the truck body. The side walls are perforated to permit air to enter the side ducts, thereby creating a transverse and horizontal flow of air through the hatchling containers. This design is particularly effective for transporting small numbers of hatchlings, as life sustaining conditions may be maintained for the hatchlings in all of the stacked containers, irregardless of the height position of a container within a stack. However, upon scale-up of this truck body design to a high capacity trailer for accommodating large numbers of hatchlings, significant problems arise in uniformly distributing the transverse and horizontal flow of air so that a similar transverse flow of air is provided at all positions along the length of the trailer. This in turn causes a disparity in environmental conditions from one end of the trailer to the other, which leads to unacceptably high mortality of hatchlings during transport.
Various types of trailers have been designed for transporting large numbers of poultry hatchlings. Most of these trailers have floor ducts that are used to provide a vertical air flow upwardly through the stacked containers, which is then collected in a space adjacent the ceiling of the trailer and is subsequently exhausted from and/or re-circulated within the trailer. The upward air flow is undesirable in that the hatchlings in the poultry containers at the top of a stack are subjected to a flow of air containing impurities derived from the excretions of the hatchlings below. Also, the air delivered to the hatchlings at the top of a stack has a higher temperature than the air delivered to the bottom of the stack. This undesirable vertical air flow leads to unacceptably high mortality of hatchlings. In addition, transverse partitions are typically provided between adjacent stacks along the length of the trailer to aid in distribution of the air flow. These partitions take up space, decreasing the number of containers that may be loaded on to a trailer. The partitions also make loading and un-loading the trailer more difficult and time consuming, which causes an increase in chick mortality since environmental conditions are not controlled during the loading and un-loading process.
An example of a prior art trailer is provided in U.S. Pat. No. 6,581,544, filed Oct. 24, 2001 by Rocky L. Smith and issued Jun. 24, 2003. The trailer has floor ducts connected to the air inlet for delivering air along the length of the trailer. The floor ducts are tapered so that their cross-section decreases towards the rear of trailer to aid in distributing the air along the length of the trailer. Each floor duct has a top with holes therethrough to create an undesirable vertical air flow through the hatchling containers.
An example of a prior art truck is provided in U.S. Pat. No. 4,454,837, filed Nov. 12, 1982, by Ralph C. Luebke and issued Jun. 19, 1984. The truck has floor ducts that are connected to vertical ducts spaced apart along the length and width of the trailer. Each vertical duct is adjacent a stack of hatchling containers and the vertical ducts each have sides with holes therethrough to distribute air along the height of the stack. The spacing between the holes decreases with increasing height along the vertical duct. A truck is disclosed for transporting small numbers of chicks, not a trailer, and the truck has the aforementioned undesirable vertical flow of air through the hatching containers.
An example of another prior art truck is provided in U.S. Pat. No. 1,520,504, filed Jun. 15, 1922, by Frank X. Mudd and issued Dec. 23, 1924. A central passage is provided along the length of the truck for creating a transverse flow of air through hatching containers when the truck is in motion. The air is introduced through vents in the front of the truck and exhausted to the outside through vents in the side of the truck. A truck is disclosed for transporting small numbers of chicks, not a trailer, and no side ducts are disclosed.
However, the need still exists for a large capacity hatchling transport trailer having a transverse flow of air that is well distributed along the length of the trailer.
According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a trailer for transporting live poultry hatchlings comprising: a cargo space comprising a front, a rear, a floor, a ceiling, and two side walls, the cargo space for containing a plurality of perforated hatchling containers stacked to create a central passage along a length of the trailer; a blower means at the front of the trailer for blowing air along the length of the trailer through the central passage; a side duct along each side wall, each side duct permitting a flow of air along the length of the trailer through a cross-sectional area of the side duct; and, each side wall having apertures therein spaced apart along the length of the trailer for admitting air into the side duct from the central passage, thereby creating a transverse flow of air through the hatchling containers, the transverse flow of air being similar at all positions along the length of the trailer.
According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a method for transporting live poultry hatchlings in a trailer comprising: providing a plurality of perforated containers for housing the hatchlings; stacking the plurality of containers within a cargo space of the trailer and forming an open central passage along a length of the trailer with the stacked containers; introducing air into the central passage and collecting the air in a side duct on each side of the trailer, thereby creating a transverse flow of air through the stacked containers; and, distributing the air so that a similar transverse flow of air is provided at all points along the length of the trailer.
According to yet another aspect of the invention, there is provided a method for ventilating a cargo space of a trailer for transporting live poultry hatchlings, the method comprising the steps of: admitting a flow of air into the cargo space, the cargo space having a first end, a second end, a ceiling, a floor, and two side walls; directing the flow of air from the first end to the second end of the cargo space through a passage in the cargo space; splitting the flow of air into a plurality of transverse air flows that flow through hatching containers in the cargo space, the plurality of transverse air flows being similar at all positions along the length of the trailer; and, admitting the plurality of transverse air flows into a side duct along a side wall of the cargo space.
A trailer according to the present invention has a cargo space for transporting a plurality of hatchling containers. The hatching containers are stacked so as to create a passage, preferably a central passage, along the length of the trailer. A flow of air created by a blower or a plurality of blowers located at the front of the trailer is directed along the length of the trailer through the passage. A fan or plurality of fans may be placed within the passage and/or attached to the ceiling above the passage to boost the flow of air along the passage.
A side duct is provided along one or both side walls for collecting the air from the passage. Each side duct has a side wall, preferably with a plurality of apertures therethrough spaced apart along a length of the trailer for admitting the air into the side duct. This creates a transverse flow of air through the hatchling containers from the passage to the side duct or ducts. The apertures may be located in discrete bands that are vertically spaced apart on the side wall. Between two and five bands, typically three bands, may be provided. The apertures need not necessarily be located in discrete bands and could alternatively be located in any suitable location on the side wall.
A variety of measures may be taken alone or in combination to improve the distribution of air along the length of the trailer. For example, the cross-sectional area of the cargo space may be reduced towards one end of the trailer; the size of the apertures and/or spacing between apertures may be adjusted along the length of the trailer; or, the cross-sectional area of the side duct may be reduced towards one end of the trailer. The overall objective of these measures is to create a transverse flow of air through the hatching containers that is substantially uniform along the length of the trailer.
The cross-sectional area of the cargo space may be reduced by tapering the ceiling downwardly towards one end of the trailer, preferably the rear of the trailer. The height of the ceiling may alternatively be reduced in discrete steps towards one end of the trailer. The roofline of the trailer may be tapered or stepped. Alternatively, the roofline may be of continuous height and an interior ceiling may be provided within the cargo space that is tapered or stepped. Similarly, the floor may be tapered or stepped upwardly towards one end of the trailer, preferably the rear of the trailer. An upward taper may provide the added benefit of creating a slope towards the front of the trailer, easing the loading of wheeled platforms bearing the stacked containers from the rear of the truck and the unloading of the platforms from the front of the truck via a side door. The wheeled platforms may be designed to seal against adjacent platforms and be closely fitted to the side wall so that the platforms create a false floor surface within the trailer. The height of the platforms may increase along the length of the trailer, thereby creating a stepped false floor surface.
The apertures may be varied in size along the length of the trailer. For example, the apertures may increase in size towards the rear of the trailer. The apertures may increase in size uniformly or may be located in discrete regions of increasing size along the length of the trailer. Similarly, the spacing between adjacent apertures may be varied along the length of the trailer. For example, the spacing between adjacent apertures may decrease along the length of the trailer. The spacing may be varied uniformly along the length of the trailer or the apertures may be located in discrete regions, each region having a different spacing between adjacent apertures as compared with an adjacent region. The apertures may be of any suitable shape; for example, the apertures may be circular, oval, oblate, or polygonal. The size of the aperture generally refers to the open area of the aperture, so that increasing the size of the aperture generally decreases the resistance to air flow through the aperture. Generally, the size and spacing of the apertures are varied so that the resistance to air flow through the side walls decreases along the length of the trailer in the direction of air flow along the passage.
The cross-sectional area of the side duct may be varied along the length of the trailer. For example, the cross-sectional area of the side duct may decrease towards the rear of the trailer. This change in cross-sectional area may be achieved by creating discrete steps in the side duct along the outside wall of the side duct. For example, the discrete steps may be provided by varying the thickness of an insulating material that is provided along the outside wall of the side duct. Alternatively, the outside wall or the insulating material may be tapered, for example inwardly tapered towards the rear of the trailer. The cross-sectional area of the side duct may also be decreased by reducing the height of the side duct, for example by tapering the ceiling or floor of the side duct. In any of the foregoing configurations, the side wall may be parallel with the length of the trailer or tapered. When the side wall is tapered, care should be taken not to create gaps between the stacked hatchling containers and the side wall that could permit a flow of air along the side wall rather than through the side duct.
A method of transporting live poultry hatchlings in a trailer may be performed by first providing a plurality of perforated containers for housing the hatchlings and loading the hatchlings into the containers. The containers are then stacked within a cargo space of the trailer, preferably on platforms as previously described, in a manner that forms an open passage along the length of the trailer, preferably a central passage. Next, air is introduced into the passage, preferably by a blower or blowers located at the front of the trailer. The air is then collected in a side duct on one or both sides of the trailer, thereby creating a transverse flow of air through the stacked hatchling containers that is distributed uniformly along the length of the trailer so that a similar transverse flow of air is provided at all points along the length of the trailer. The air may be distributed by creating a pressure difference between the cargo space and the side ducts.
A method for ventilating a cargo space of a trailer for transporting live poultry hatchlings may be performed by first admitting a flow of air into the cargo space. The cargo space normally has a first end, a second end, a ceiling, a floor, and two side walls. The flow of air is then directed from the first end to the second end of the cargo space through a passage in the cargo space. The passage may be a central passage formed by a plurality of stacked hatchling containers, or may be any other suitably formed passage. Next, the flow of air is split into a plurality of transverse air flows that flow through hatching containers in the cargo space. The plurality of transverse air flows are similar at all positions along the length of the trailer. The plurality of transverse air flows are then admitted into a side duct along a side wall of the cargo space. There may be a side duct along each side wall of the cargo space. The first end of the cargo space may be a front end and the second end of the cargo space may be a rear end, or alternatively, the first end of the cargo space may be a rear end and the second end of the cargo space may be a front end.